Mario Chaves, 92, a Public Health Professional, Dentist and Medical Doctor who worked at the Kellogg Foundation in Rio de Janeiro with responsibilities for the Foundation's activities in Latin America and the Caribbean, died February 28, 2015 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Dr. Mario Chaves worked at the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) in Washington, DC as their first ever-dental health officer (1954-1963). He subsequently moved to the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva to become the chief dental health officer.
Dr. Chaves made important contributions to Human Resources development and to Dental Public Health, strengthening Medical Education in the process. His role in institutions like FEPAFEN (Pan-American Federation of Medical Education) and ABRASCO (Brazilian Association of Collective Health) will be highly remembered. Dr. Chaves also played a key role in the initial functioning of NUTES/CLATES (Nucleo de Tecnologias Estrategicas en Salud/Centro Latinoamericano de Tecnologia Educacional para la Salud). He participated in the introduction of salt fluoridation as a public health measure to prevent caries.
While at the Associacao Brasileira de Educacao Medica (1987-1990), he received a Kellogg grant in order to "assess the status of medical education in the Americas, aiming to redirect medical education policies towards community-based, problem-focused health services."
Dr. Chaves won the AAPHD International Special Merit Award for Community Dentistry in 1999 for his work with the Kellogg Foundation. His publications, mainly "Odontologia Sanitaria" (1962) and "Odontologia Social" (1977) formed the foundation of dental public health in the Americas, particularly Brazil, and were used as teaching tools for a long time thereafter.
Dr. Chaves is well remembered by his colleagues as a gentleman and extraordinary human being.
